Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1887-03-19

1--WE were whole days together in the cars,
she said, with eyes burning with feeling, "a
most unusual boon. l wrote my daughter
after we returned. and l remember l said to
her: Il have been getting acquainted with
your father and have fallen deeply in love
with him. If he proposes think l shall &C
cept him. F"
She had been telling us how the many
public demands made upon him had taken
him from her of necessity and of their simple,
beautiful early married life, when poverty
was their constant guest and came in and
dwelt with them in a cottage of two rooms,
yet did not drive love out.
Mrs. Beecher has been sometimes described
as cold and ungenial. This is certainly a SUI
perficial reading of her character She isn't
demonstrative or diffusive, certainly. She
doesn't affect the amiable and pleasing
doesn't affect anything, in fact In the matter
# self poise / should say she is without EQUAL
If any one on earth possesses the magic staff
of the Seer of the North she does: "Under all
circumstances preserve an equal mind"
She is indifferent to public praise, or that
intangible, intoxicating, burdensome thing
they call fame which often possesses its pos
SCISSOR when he is supposed to possess it.
She wouldn't turn her head to look at g
king A celebrity is no more than fly to
her. 1 heard her questioned about a distin.
guished man who had been in Plymouth
church the Sunday before. 81 don't know
what he was like | did not look at him.
care nothing about seeing great people," She
would not raise an eyelid, l imagine, if {
string of celebrities as long as the Brooklyn
bridge passed her door, nor lift her head If {
regiment of enemies screamed at her.
Comparatively little has been written about
Mrs. Beecher, considering the fact that she
was the wife and is now the widow of hin
who was our greatest American clergyman
She is simply and invariably her natural self
"a woman of fine mind, high character, self
contained, but not cold or severe, not en-
thusastic, bus constant and strong, exactly
the kind of woman to be prop to the great
but impulsive soul who was so long her closest
companion.
recall her TO mind as she appeared in he1
own home one afternoon of the early winter
of S4, / wrote something about her then
which a few may still remember.
The large library was lighted by glowing
CRATE fire, and made beautiful and cheerful
by pictures, bric-a-brac, books and flowers
Mrs Beecher, with her white hair, flower
trimmed cap, fine laceS, slender golden chains
and soft brown silk gown was the most pleas
ing picture of all, and one shall long re
member She is a handsome woman still
despite the traces of years upon her face
Her profile is purely Grecian, and her eye:
have the brightness of a spirit that knows NJ
old age She is an admirable talller, mo-
egotistical not self assertive, but interesting
and most graceful.
She spoke of their early life in Indianapoli!
thirty-seven years before, and grew almost
enthusiastic in her reminiscent description
1t was evident that the recollection Of it was
sweet and pleasant to her. She and her bus
band had gone there from Lawrence
burg in the hope that it would be place
where they would have comparative i'm
munity from chills This delusion was
soon dissipated Malaria met them on theil
arrival, shook them while they remained
and followed them when they left. They
lived there two years, and two of their chill
dren, think, were born there. Mrs. Beechel
is the mother of ten children, only four OF
whom are living. Their house contained only
a parlor and dining room, which also an
swered for a kitchen. A veranda ran along
the 'front.' and this they boarded up and di
vided into two little bedrooms, leaving a pas
sageway in the middle. Each room contained
bed-"only this and nothing more" Not ,
foot of space remained for washstand Of
chair. To make up these beds Mrs. Beechel
said she was obliged to reach through the
windows which opened into the house proper
The rooms themselves were not big enough
for her to go into and raise her arms K
spread the sheets.
Mr.. Beecher's salary was 5000 year, which
was reduced to $500 when the congregation
bought him his little cottage. At Lawrence
burg he had received only $500. This, then
was in the nature of great good fortune. His
desk stood in the parlor, and in a spot which
commanded a view of the combined dining
room and kitchen where she worked. As fas
as he finished few pages he called her anC
she quit her work and sat down beside him OF
how chair, her arms covered with flour per
haps, while he read what he had written. TheI
they talked it over, and new thoughts were tn,
result. She went back to her cooking and he re
turned to his sermon. There was a LITTLE
smoke house in the yard where she did the
family washing When she was there Mr..
Beecher called her by making p trumpet of
his hands and blowing blast through it that
walked the echoes. Then she wiped the suds
from her hands and arms and ran in to talk
theology, little dreaming that he had grasped
the germ of what was to grow into the most
beautiful theology ever uttered, the God
with us" and the God within us" of the near
future How could she know that the man
at who's fee; 81" GLADLY sat, and gave as well
a...t,. ct in